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16 — 47372-3 OPO 



EPILEPSY, 



RESPONSIBILITY 



AND THE 



CZOLGOSZ CASE 



WAS THE ASSASSIN SANE OR INSANE? 



aaa 



DR. SANDERSON CHRISTISON 





"CRIME AND CBIMINALS." 

BY 

J. SANDERSON CHRISTISON, M. D. 

AUTHOR OF "BRAIN IN REI,ATION TO MIND." 



Law Times (London.) — " Will amply repay the student 
of criminology for a careful perusal. The author makes 
three separate classes of delinquents viewed from a psy- 
chologic standpoint, namely : The insane (defective in 
reason), the moral paretic (defective in self-control), and 
the criminal proper (defective in conscience). This di- 
vision was dealt with in an article in an American 
paper by the author, and which we reproduced." 

Westminster Review. — "Upon the right lines, especially 
upon the sociologic side." 

Lancet (London).— "To those interested in the so- 
called new science of criminology this book will have a 
considerable attraction." 

Philadelphia Medical Journal.— "Both interesting and 
valuable. ' ' 

The Medical Sentinel.— " No recent monograph upon 
the subject has created quite as much comment as this 
work. " 

Literary World- — "A contribution, not so much of 
theories as of hard facts, to the study of penology." 

Open Court.—" Treats of the problems of crime in a 
practical way as can be done by an expert only." 

BiblJotheca Sacra.— " Cannot but recognize the great 
value of the facts and illustrations presented in this com^ 
pact volume." 

Chicago Inter-Ocean.—' ' A most valuable little manual." 

Chtb, Price, $1.25 
The Meng Publishing Co., Chicago. 



BS 






Epilepsy, Responsibility and the 
Czolgosz Case.* 



J. SANDERSON CHRISTISON, M. D. 

I define epilepsy as a more or less transient and spas- 
modic affection of the psychic functions ivith or without 
motor or sensory manifestations. 

There is a more or less sudden and unaccountable 
break in the continuity of the conscious mental activities 
of the subject, so that cases of muscular spasm or tremor, 
as in tetanus, chorea, etc., in which there exists no ap- 
parent aberration of consciousness, are excluded from this 
category. And yet a peculiar mental factor presumably 
exists (perhaps subconsciously) in all convulsive cases, 
since when mind has departed, as in death by shock, 
even electricity almost immediately fails to produce a 
reaction. 

Dr. Russell Reynolds has defined the essentials of 
epilepsy as a diminution of intelligence and muscular 
spasm. But muscular spasm, as it is usually known, is 
not a constant condition, while psychic aberration is. Dr. 
Baker, of the Broadmoor Criminal Lunatic Asylum, re- 
gards loss of consciousness as the pathognomonic sign of 
epilepsy (i), while Dr. Wilkes, of Guy's Hospital, relates 
several cases in which coma was the only symptom, and 
one case in which automatism alone existed (2). Many 
similar cases can be cited. But there is next to no dis- 
pute that in some cases the psychic manifestations exist 
alone, while in othe^ases convulsions with simple loss 
of consciousness are practically all the phenomena ob- 
served. These two main forms or aspects of epilepsy 
often alternate in the same person, either speedily or 
after considerable intervals, even months or years. But 
whether it is mind or muscle that gives expression to the 
malady, the manifestation is essentially a form of spasm, 



* Reprinted from the Third Edition of "Crime and Criminals," 
now in press, a copy of which will be sent on the receipt of $1.25 by 
the author, S15 Marshall Field Building, Chicago. 



2 EPILEPSY. 

inasmuch as there is a more or less sudden interruption 
of the subject's normal currents of vitality and intelli- 
gence. Dr. Hughlings-Jackson has curtly described the 
convulsions as a brutish development of many of the 
subject's ordinary movements, and the description is 
quite as appropriate to psychic cases, although not in 
any reversion sense. 

The sensory perversions in epilepsy exist either during 
loss of consciousness or are manifested by some kind of 
hallucination during one of the stages of a fit. Common 
sensation is usually more or less impaired. 

It is evident to most thoughtful observers that epilepsy 
is manifested by a great variety of conditions, extending 
all the way from a momentary lapse of thought, or a 
vertigo, or a simple automatism, to the conditiofi of vio- 
lent mania or clonic convulsions. The petty varieties 
seem to bear much the same relationship to the serious 
or sthenic forms, that a trickle does to a flood, or a whiff 
to a tornado; while the equation in epilepsy is, of course, 
more complex. Drs. Gowers, Fere, and Hughlings- 
Jackson find that there are as many epilepsies as there 
are epileptics. 

The modern theory of the origin of a fit places it in 
the gray matter of the brain, the cortex cerebri, more or 
less of which is supposedly surcharged with nervous 
energy, whatever that may be. But there seems to be 
no substantial support for such a view, for we do not 
know that any organic cell can store anything in the 
way of excessive cargo. A morbid cell is a functionally 
defective cell, while a cell functioning normally is an 
orderly agent whatever its degree of activity may be, and 
cannot be conceived as reserving anything for a sort of 
whimsical flash, which must necessarily disturb its own 
integrity. Even the discharged energy of the gytitnotus 
electriciis is not a surplusage but the product of a con- 
servative provision in natural economy. That during a 
cell's activity its energy can be raised or lowered within 
certain limits, according to whether it is well or ill 
favored, is not questioned, and thus its power of resist- 
ance to certain irritants, or its capacity to respond to 
certain exactions, will vary with altered conditions, /. r. , 
with its supply and demand of means for energizing. 
There may exist an excessive sensitiveness or activity in 
brain cells in epilepsy, or the inhibitory relations may be 



EPILEPSY. 



disturbed, owing to defects in the nerve cells of the brain, 
i. e., the cortical neurons and their branches, which de- 
fects may impair connection and thus increase resistance. 
But all such views are merely speculative, as indeed is 
the case regarding the pathology of other insanities, for 
in a considerable proportion of all so-called idiopathic 
forms of insanity, the brain shows nothing whatever that 
can be described as abnormal. Thus it is evident that 
lesions found in cases which are not produced by me- 
chanical violence, can only be regarded as mere casual- 
ties or products and not as causative factors. Indeed 
those occasional cases of insanity of many years' stand- 
ing, but which finally recover in a more or less sudden 
manner, quite disprove the necessity for any organic 
pathological correlative. And to this we may add the 
evidence of the many recorded cases of extensive and 
destructive brain lesions existing without any mental 
manifestations whatever of a distinctly aberrant charac- 
ter. Epilepsy is indeed frequently associated with gross 
lesions of some kind, the removal or mitigation of which 
is sometimes, but quite seldom, followed by relief from 
the epilepsy. Such recoveries are probably due to what 
may be termed an accidental alteration of functional 
balance, or some form of sympathetic readjustment. At 
all events, we must look for a form of functional perver- 
sion irrespective of any organic disease. Nor is it neces- 
sarily a brain disease any more than fainting or vertigo, 
without denying that the brain takes a part in the act. 
A physical shock or mental shock may cause any of them, 
for example, a blow on the stomach, or a fright; while 
m monkeys a trilling intra-venous injection of absinthe 
will produce epileptic fits without exception (3). It is 
said that practically the same result takes place in man. 
Dr. Julius Donath produced epilepsy in animals at will 
by stimulating the cervical sympathetic, while if the sym- 
pathetic was cut no fits could be produced (4). Yet 
removal of the superior cervical ganglia from both sides 
of three of his epileptic patients did not affect their fits. 
And lastly, the observations that chickens hatched by 
incubators and squirrels and various other creatures de- 
prived of their liberty almost invariably become subjects 
of epilepsy, go to show how slight a variation in the tem- 
pering of the mental Jiexus is required to permit a dis- 
jointing, so to speak, of the associative processes. They 



4 EPILEPSY. 

also indicate that the essential element in epilepsy is a 
psychic defect, whether it be appreciable or not, for it is 
to be noted that the chickens referred to have no natural 
mother, while the other creatures have lost their natural 
home or environment, their food and other conditions 
being about the same as normal. These are observations 
worthy of farther reflection. It is therefore evident that 
the problem of epilepsy is essentially one of physiologic- 
psychology. - , 



Responsibllty. 



Epilepsy occurs everywhere, from the top to the bot- 
tom of society. It afflicts the saint, the sage and the 
sinner alike, and even the infant in the cradle, so that it 
cannot be charged as an evil for which the subject is in 
any way necessarily responsible, since it may arise under 
conditions for which the subject could in no way be 
responsible. Of course evils cannot arise when strictly 
normal conditions exist within and without, for the sim- 
ple reason that everything must have an efficient cause, 
so that if we seek for originating causes we must carry 
our analysis into the realm of heredity, tradition, and 
moral and intellectual environment. 

But in facing the question of personal responsibility it 
is sufficient to define epilepsy as essentially being an ab- 
normal mental state for which the individual is not re- 
sponsible because its origin is spontaneous and is not a 
matter of choice. I do not mean to say that conditions 
preventable by the subject are not at times contributory 
causes. But this point is not legally available, inasmuch 
as its decision depends upon the subject's private per- 
sonal experience, and, even if admitted, the elements of 
heredity and environment could be pleaded as complica- 
tions and predisposing factors, and, most likely, the sine 
qua non of the case. 

At this point, just a word regarding the principle of 
responsibility. We are responsible creatures only in so 
far as we possess the powers of discernment and choice, 
/. e., if we have the power to know correctly and also 
the privilege of knowing to an extent equal to our needs 
both in regard to ourselves and our social duties, and, in 
addition, if we possess the power of choosing equal to 



RESPONSIBILITY. 5 

our needs and social relations, then indeed we are re- 
sponsible, /. c, we are competent to respond to the 
requirements of any position we are rightfully placed in. 
In other words, we must in some way be coordinate and 
coequal to the conditions required, else we simply can- 
not comply with them, so that justice cannot exact by 
a standard that is any higher than the factors in the 
heredity and history of the individual can furnish for a 
formula of conduct. Thus the standard of justice is no 
more and no less than the standard of the individual sub- 
ject. It is quite evident that we must know right before 
we can do right in the sense of a moral obligation, 
while it is also a well known fact that we may know 
right and not be able to do it. If either of these factors 
which are the prerequisites for responsibility be absent 
or defective, responsibility is correspondingly impaired. 
Even the knowledge of right and wrong either in the 
absolute or relative sense in any given case is not proof 
of responsibility, for often where the knowledge exists 
the power to choose that which is clearly right may be 
lost through the cumulative effect of habits or conditions 
which the subject may have been led or driven into, or 
perhaps by some kind of seizure or sickness quite as in- 
explicable as is the origin of epilepsy. Witness espe- 
cially some of the strange and even horrid practices of 
certain alien peoples, or the marked change of character 
in some of our own friends which occasionally follows 
acute ailments. 

But psychologically and theologicall)^ speaking, re- 
sponsibility as a qualification implying the liability to 
receive punishment in the operation of justice, cannot 
possibly exist unless the individual is conscious of ill- 
desert, and this consciousness must not be a vague feel- 
ing arising from the imagination, which indeed it fre- 
quently is, but it must come as a clear-cut conclusion 
drawn from first principles, i. c, the knowledge drawn 
from common experience, and applied to the special cir- 
cumstances of the case, in order that justice, as a process 
of retribution, shall be properly effected. But retribu- 
tive justice is infinitely beyond man's power of adminis- 
tration, and a discussion of it here is beyond the scope 
of this pap^r. However, I think I have suggested how 
sadly unjust are our present legal methods which operate 
in the name of justice — using, as a rule, but one stand- 



O RESPONSIBILITY. 

ard, and, as a rule, applying but one method of treat- 
ment, and that a brutish penalty. 

But back to our subject in its medical aspect. 

A perverted state of mind is a state of mind which 
more or less incapacitates the subject for acting in a 
proper, efficient or normal way. He is not himself, so 
to speak, and he "can't help it," for the time being, at 
least. Normally his conduct is presumably representa- 
tive of the society in which he has lived prior to ma- 
turity and is regulated by general principles, common 
experience, inculcated precepts, prevailing sentiments, 
common usages and every-day habits. But when his 
mind is involuntarily thrown into an abnormal condition 
through external and internal conditions which he could 
not control and did not create, his ordinary character 
qualities lose their inhibitory power over what he would 
normally regard as wrong-doing. In this condition he 
may be dominated by notions which are in their nature 
wrong, or by feelings which are in degree excessive. He 
may still in a measure be amenable to discipline, such as 
threats and kindness, a fact which only goes to show 
that his perceptive powers have not been annihilated but 
are in certain aspects, at least, weakened and aberrant. 
Usually (excluding stupor and delirious mania) there are 
certain lines of thought that become distorted through 
some undue influence, perhaps both physical and mental, 
and which deprive the subject of self-control. The chief 
psychological fault is an imperfect or incompetent range 
of his mental vision, a sort of fragmentary perceptiveness 
owing to ideational breaks in the individual's associative 
processes. Thus the power of the subject as a free agent 
to respond in a proper way to the standards of society is 
crippled or destroyed because the faculties of sponta- 
neous and voluntary association of ideas along preestab- 
lished lines are damaged or destroyed. Such breaks 
may render him abnormally suggestable and keen in cer- 
tain directions and correspondingly obtuse in other 
directions, so that a condition of unbridled impulse may 
arise through a flock of ideas coming to the front which 
would have been either checked or dispersed by his com- 
mon normal habits of thought, the very regulators of 
ordinary social circumspection. The ordinary monitors 
of the mind are thus thrown out of their normal rela- 
tions, are devitalized so to speak, and rendered inopera- 



RESPONSIBILITY. 7 

tive as factors inhibitory to wrong doing and thereby the 
individual has lost his responsibility because the factors 
which give and constitute responsibility, in any true 
sense, now fail to respond to the very calls which in the 
subject's normal state would have been effective. The 
light from the lamp of reason has become more or less 
eclipsed or obscured by an alien and fortuitous agency 
for which no one as yet has been able to account, and 
therefore is in no sense a product of the subject's choice. 
To hold such a person responsible for a crime would be 
just as reasonable as to demand that -an old-time swim- 
mer who has lost one or both arms shall attempt to save 
even a drowning monarch, or to blame a misdirected 
stranger for taking the wrong course. 

It must be granted that an epileptic isaJunatic while 
in a "fit" or "spell." His mental balance may be lost 
for but a moment or for minutes or for hours or days or 
weeks or months. If his conduct during a spell has been 
ridiculous or even grossly violent and without any pur- 
pose that seems intelligible to others, he will quite likely 
be admitted to be insane by even a stupid jury. But if, 
as quite often happens, he display an impulse which cor- 
responds to some known provocation, and which he may 
have held in check for a longer or shorter period, the 
apology of insanity is not so readily granted, for too fre- 
quently it is supposed by laymen that lunatics are en- 
tirely devoid of ordinary motives, just as if the loss of 
some ideas necessitated the loss of all or precluded the 
operation of previously acquired knowledge and senti- 
ments. And yet the action of a latent or restrained im- 
pulse is to be most expected when the normal or stand- 
ard inhibitory powers are thrown aside without a con- 
scious act. Under such conditions a pent-up emotion 
will naturally assume freedom of execution, just as the 
conceptions of a musical amateur have been displayed 
with transcendent excellence only in the course of a 
somnambulistic trance. In both cases the emotions or 
desires are untrammeled by certain restraints of previous 
teaching and experience which operate under ordinary 
conditions. As before observed, in epilepsy only certain 
inhibitory or re-^nlating powers may be lost, while in all 
other respects the subject may be keenly perceptive in a 
more or less automatic way. 



RESPONSIBILITY. 



The remark occasionally met with that all epileptics 
do not commit crime and which is intended to suggest 
that the crime is something apart from the epilepsy and 
should be so treated, is quite on a par with the observa- 
tion that all whisky drinkers do not have red noses. To 
skeptics we can also quote the maxim that it was the 
last straw that broke the camel's back and without it the 
camel's back would not have been broken. There are 
psychological as well as physiological variants in the 
personal equation which are just as inexplicable as is 
epilepsy, and it cannot be expected that the same cause 
differently associated will produce all of the same results. 
And is it not true that there are moments in the lives of 
nearly all men and women, when, if but a single thought 
were obscured, a so-called "righteous indignation" would 
quite naturally culminate in a crime. But as previously 
indicated the background causative factors chiefly belong 
to heredity and environment and which on the moral 
side are mainly the products of social and political con- 
ditions. 

Between spells, epileptics must be regarded as com- 
bustible material to an unknown spark, unless in the 
event of crime they are entitled to the presumption of 
temporary insanity. There certainly cannot be a more 
worthy occasion for the " benefit of the doubt," at least 
until the case is properly studied. In my opinion the 
attitude of the medical expert should accord with the 
true spirit and purpose of the law, /. c, justice and 
economy. The ordinary idea of punishment, which is 
usually the object of a state trial, should be entirely ex- 
punged by a rational theory of remedial treatment, for 
even the desire to inflict punishment in the ordinary 
legal way, is itself a sign of an abnormal disposition — 
the product of an exaggerated ego and defective intelli- 
gence. This is true absolutely and without exception, 
so that the attitude of society which will best serve it- 
self, and the one most likely to secure justice to offend- 
ers, is the attitude of true charity, i. e., study, explana- 
tion and the application of remedial treatment in accord- 
ance with the intelligence of the times and the spirit of 
that universal monitor the golden rule. 

(i) Dr. Baker, British Medical Journal, April 29, 1893, p. 894. 

(2) Dr. Wilkes, British Medical Jour tial, Jan. 2, 1892, p. 1304. 

(3) Mott and Sherrington, Brain, Volume 18, page 609. 

(4) Dr. J. Donath, British Medical Joztrnul, May 14, 1898. 



THE ASSASSIN CZOLGOSZ. 



The Assassin Czols^osz. 



& 



It is doubtless a long way between a yawn and a fit, 
and yet there presumably exists a degree of kinship inas- 
much as both phenomena are spasmodic and involuntary. 
But a twitch and a fit are much closer related. Accord- 
ing to Sir William Gowers, the most frequently observed 
prodroma of epilepsy, are sudden jerks of the body or 
limbs, and it seems to me quite probable that the assassin 
Czolgosz was not far from being an epileptic, for it was 
reported of him that he had marked twitchings of the 
right fore-arm while in the court room, and of the lower 
jaw just before his electrocution. He probably had 
similar manifestations at other times. Fear or emotional 
agitation could only be regarded as exciting causes at the 
most, for involuntary spasms always indicate an impor- 
tant abnormal physiological fact, whether or not they 
can be regarded as prodromal of epilepsy. It is true 
such phenomena are frequently observed in persons quite 
properly regarded as sane, although they may possess 
but a shell of sanity, liable to break down by just a little 
more pressure. A thoroughly sound person does not 
have such manifestations under any circumstances of 
purely mental influence. 

But in analysing Czolgosz I will discuss his mental 
condition from three points of view, viz.: (i) His homi- 
cidal act. (2) His behavior subsequent to the act. (3) 
His history previous to the act. 

The present sketch is necessarily brief, yet I think it 
presents the essential nature of the case quite distinctly 
and fairly. 

In reference to the act I may first observe that acts 
themselves indicate the mental condition of the actors, 
when all the circumstances are known, and that in reality 
they constitute the best of evidence, just as the work of 
the mechanic exhibits his skill, or the lack of it, when 
the purpose and conditions of his labors are known. 

The evidence of sanity essentially depends upon the 
integrity of reason, the chief tests for which are con- 
stancy, coherence, and a rational necessity or expediency 
for all acts. 



lO THE ASSASSIN CZOLGOSZ. 

In regard to the indications of the act of Czolgosz, I 
deem the following points worthy of seriousnconsidera- 
tion, and as indicating insanity, viz.: 

(i) At the age of 28 and after a life record of an ex- 
ceptionally (abnormallyj retiring and peaceful disposition, 
he suddenly appears as a great criminal. Had he been 
sane this act would imply an infraction of the law of 
normal growth, which is logically inconceivable. 

(2) His act was not only homicidal but it was also 
deliberately suicidal, for he expected to be hanged for it; 
yet it was not based upon any philosophy, teaching or 
experience within his knowledge or imagination which 
offered him any hope of reward of any kind, either in 
time or eternity. 

(3) His act was ivanioji, for he had in mind no benefit 
that would or could accrue to any person or class of per- 
sons; while, on the other hand, had he been simply an 
anarchist, he would have known that distress or disfavor 
would fall upon all of his class. But his act appears as 
motiveless as is the case in pure kleptomania. 

(4) Such a monstrous conception and impulse as the 
wanton murder of the President of the United States, 
arising in the mind of so insignificant a citizen, without 
his being either insane or degenerate, could be nothing 
short of a miracle, for the reason that we require like 
causes to explain like results. To assume that he was 
sane is to assume that he did a sane act, i. e., one based 
upon facts and for a rational purpose. 

(5) If he thought President McKinley was "the enemy 
of the good people, the poor working people," as he as- 
serted,, the notion must be conceded to be the pure 
product of a deluded imagination, for there was no 
evidence of any kind or anywhere in support of it. And 
there is no evidence that Czolgosz was a prophet, states- 
man or philosopher of transcendent insight. 

(6) His act was not the natural product of any form 
of systematic thought. He was not an anarchist or a 
student of anarchy, nor a student of anything else; while 
the fundamental principle of anarchy is a denial of the 
right of any one to interfere with the liberty of any one 
else, and thus it is oppose^d to the committing of violence 
in any form. 

(7) The " I done my duty" notion was evidently an 
imperative idea of a purely impulsive origin, for he did 



THE ASSASSIN CZOLGOSZ. 

not believe that he had been especially called to do the 
deed. Such a condition is common among lunatics, 
especially in the earlier stages of their affliction. It is 
also to be observed that the impulse arose suddenly from 
a suggestion through something he read three or four 
days before his murderous assault. 

(8) His act was not an act of revenge of any kind, for 
the President had wronged neither him nor a relative of 
his, nor a friend of his, nor any class of people in which 
he had the slightest interest. 

Now granting that these points are true, let us ask 
where was the rational motive, purpose or basis in this 
act ? How much was it like a rational philanthropic act 
or a criminal act of the selfish order ? 

If we inspect the remarkably brief and superficial re- 
port made by the State's medical examiners (i), we will 
find in it a few straws which indicate something of the 
condition of his mental undercurrents shortly before and 
shortly after the assault. To-wit : 

(i) Mental Wandering a7id Abandon, e. g., a few days 
before the act he went from Buffalo to Cleveland, a 
distance of nearly 200 miles, "just to look around and 
buy a paper," as he declared. 

(2) Insane Vacillation, e. g., on one occasion he denied 
that he killed the President or had any intention of doing 
so, but a few minutes later he remarked, "I am glad I 
did it." 

(3) Logical Incongruity, e. g. , He declared that any 
one had a chance on trial and that perhaps he would not 
be punished so badly after all. Yet from first to last he 
treated the only persons, his lawyers, who could secure 
the chance for him, with the most contemptible indif- 
ference. 

(4) Moral Chaos, e. g.. He declared that he did not 
believe in government, nor in law, nor in marriage, nor 
in God. 

(5) Insane Egotism, e. g.. His reason for killing the 
President was "I done my duty. I don't believe in 
one man having so much service and another man should 
have none." 

Now, let us ask ourselves if any of these conditions 
indicate a sane and responsible state of mind. 

In regard to his previous history, my investigations 
personally made at his home in Cleveland, disclose the 
following facts : 



12 THE ASSASSIN CZOLGOSZ. 

(1) As a child he was markedly indisposed to associate 
with other children. 

(2) As a young man he studiously avoided the opposite 
sex and did not have a chum of any kind. 

(3) He was seldom distinctly ill, yet he was almost 
always complaining of ill-health and frequently took 
medicine. 

(4) He was notoriously prone to fall asleep in a chair 
at any hour of the day, and as indicating a common 
peculiarity, his bright old aunt termed him an "old 
grandmother," because "he had such a tired, stupid 
way." 

(5) He took especial interest in nothing, never spoke 
at club meetings and was with difBculty induced to read 
any kind of literature, even that of the Social Labor 
party, the local club of which he was for some time a 
member. 

(6) At the age of 24 he quit work at the wire-mill on 
account of his health, as he claimed to his relatives, and 
went to live on his father s farm, where he remained un- 
til about two months before his homicidal assault. Here 
he lived in comparative idleness, claiming that on account 
of his health he could not do farm work, and actually 
did nothing but petty odd jobs just when he " felt like 
it." He had no books and did no reading excepting as 
he casually picked up a local German newspaper which 
came to the family. 

(I wish here to acknowledge my indebtedness to Mr. 
L. J. Czechowski, the druggist of the neighborhood of 
the Czolgosz family, for his most valuable assistance in 
my Cleveland investigation.) 

Now let us ask ourselves how the personal factors, 
which I have pointed out in this analysis of Czolgosz, 
respond to the tests for sanity which I have previously 
given, viz.: (i) Constancy (stability) which, in the 
higher animals, implies growth or development, both 
mental and physical, and in man there is also moral 
development, /. e. , social subserviency. Convention- 
alities do not necessarily apply. (2) CoJierence or the 
quality of natural or logical connection of all parts con- 
stituting the personality of the individual. (3) A rational 
necessity or expediency for all acts. 

If these are not tests of sanity, what are .^ There are 
no physical tests that can be regarded as standard, so 



THE ASSASSIN CZOLGOSZ. 1 3 

that he who has no rational psychological tests for sanity 
is not entitled to an opinion upon the subject, even 
though he were an ex-Chief Justice of the Supreme Court 
of the United States or a so-called insanity expert. An 
opinion not soundly based is nothing but sentimental 
rant or an egotistic effluvium. Intuitions are uncer- 
tainties and we do not build on them. 

We thus see that his previous history reveals the de- 
velopment of a distinctly abnormal condition in his 
character and which could hardly be expected to con- 
tinue much longer without a break or some peculiar overt 
manifestation, the precise form of which would more or 
less depend upon the suggestions made to such a peculiar 
mind by passing events. 

And yet he has been declared an "Anarchist, sane 
and responsible " by the State's medical advisers. If, 
however, we examine the introductory remarks of their 
official report, we find them congratulating themselves 
that they had an early chance to examine Czolgosz "be- 
fore he had time to meditate upon the enormity of the 
act," which is simply an admission that they believed he 
did not realize at that time the enormity of the act, and 
therefore that he must have been insane. It is also an 
admission that they expected a reaction would follow in 
the assassin's mind, i. e., that he would recover his 
senses and become sane and then begin in some manner 
to play off, so to speak. But it seems that after all the 
"done my duty " idea of Czolgosz held him up from 
start to finish, quite as insane egos commonly do. 

The declaration by the medical examiners that he was 
neither insane nor degenerate (degeneracy is supposed to 
be a sort of insanity dependent upon, or coexistent with, 
inherited organic defects), quite ignores the theory of 
evolution, while it does not even indicate how such a 
monstrous act could be perpetrated by a "sane and 
responsible" person. The sanity of an American citizen 
must indeed be a strange and uncertain quantity accord- 
ing to any standard that admits of such a declaration. 

Czolgosz was not a type frequently found in our public 
lunatic asylums but rather an aggravated specimen from 
the insane borderlands. Four years of voluntary idle- 
ness on a farm, remote from city privileges, and at a 
time of life when normal young men are most alive and 
ambitious, could hardly do less than increase the very 



14 THE ASSASSIN CZOLGOSZ. 

morbidity which must account for such a choice. And 
while it would increase his abnormal feelings and sug- 
gestibility, insane conceptions were but naturally bred 
under such conditions. His main delusion, his "duty" 
as he called it, was fixed to the last, which is reasonable 
evidence that it had an established setting which re- 
quired but little suggestion of an abnormal kind to break 
through his remaining circumspection. Delusions which 
are based upon some system of reasoning are not so 
fixed against opposing reasoning or evidence as are de- 
lusions which more or less suddenly enter or arise in the 
mind by virtue of some form of mental disorder which 
so entangles them that no amount of reasoning can dis- 
lodge them. Czolgosz can no more be regarded an an- 
archist, as a rational product of anarchy, than a casual 
visitor to a synagogue can be regarded as an orthodox 
Jew. Neither the Cleveland Superintendent of Police 
nor myself could find any trace of any interest or any 
association whatever on the part of Czolgosz with either 
anarchy or anarchists. Yet I do not deny that his dis- 
ordered mind was moved by notions which he attributed 
to anarchy, as it is commonly understood. But I have 
seen cases which an orthodox sermon or a series of 
camp-meetings have led directly to the lunatic asylum. 
Yet the normal effect of Christianity is not that way. 

Since writing the foregoing I have met with a recent 
article by Professor Regis of France on the subject of 
regicides (2), the following extracts from which will be 
interesting in this connection. Referring to the mental 
condition of regicides. Dr. Regis says: 

"It is impossible, it seems to me, to consider these 
individuals as ordinary criminals and not to see in them 
fanaticized sick men, almost at the point of suffering 
from delirium. They are so identical one to the other 
that the resemblance may be traced trait for trait." 

"On the ground of the ensemble of their natures, I de- 
fine them as follows: Degenerates of a mystic tempera- 
ment, who, misguided by political and religious delirium, 
complicated sometimes by hallucinations, think them- 
selves called on to act the double role of judiciary and 
martyr; who, under the influence of an obcession that is 
irresistible, kill some great personage in the name of 
God, the Country, Liberty or Anarchy." 

" Besides, regicides who survive almost invariably end. 



THE ASSASSIN CZOLGOSZ. I 5 

in insanity and complete dementia; this confirms my 
opinion that they are unbalanced. As examples may be 
cited, Sahla, Galeote, Passanante, Berardi and Acciarito.'' 
"And yet, though sick, although delusional, although 
impulsive, they are almost always treated as responsible 
individuals, condemned to death both in order to punish 
them and make examples of them. For my part I think 
this method is both erroneous and unprofitable, and that 
society would be the gainer by treating these dangerous 
subjects, who so often cause upheavals of government, 
as insane patients. '" 

(i) Philadelphia Medical Journal, November 6, 1901 
(2) Jourtial of Menial Pathology, October, 1901. 

P. S.— The recent report that Dr. E. A. Spitzka (a 
recent graduate of medicine and son of the well-known 
Dr. E. C. Spitzka of New York) had pronounced the 
brain of Czolgosz normal, is of entirely negative value 
even if the examination had been thorough, which it was 
not, for insanity has no more to do with the brain than 
the character of a newspaper has to do with its me- 
chanics. Gross disease or deformity of the brain may 
exist with perfect mental integrity, while, on the other 
hand, a large proportion of the insane have normal 
brains. (For recorded cases see Chapter IV of my book, 
"Brain in Relation to ivl'ind.") 



BRAIN >H RELATION TO MIND. 

J. SANDERSON CHRISTISON, M. D. 

AUTHOR OF "CRIME AND CRIMINALS," &C. 



Pacific Medical Journal. — The author considers the rela- 
tion of brain cells, theory of sensory and motor centers, 
mind localization, brain form in relation to mind, brain 
size in relation to mind and normal mind, all showing 
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St. Louis Medical and Surgical Journal.— The book is 
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Tlie New England Medical Journal.— A very interesting 
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The Hahnemannian Monthly.— Anyone interested in psy- 
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pleasure. 

The Scotsman (Edinburgh.)— The work recommends 
itself to mental specialists by its conciseness, it.'? sound 
psychology and its constant adherence to the teaching 
of practical experience. 

Journal of Education (London.)— Small as it is the 
book cannot be ignored, by those who believe in the 
close connection, amounting almost to identy of brain 
functions and mind. Its facts are too carefully gath- 
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The Outlook. — A considerable contribution to psychol- 
ogy- 

Los Angeles Sunday Times.— Chapters of brilliant and 
thoughtful scientific argument. 

C/oth, Price $1.25 
The Meng Publishing Co., Chicago. 



LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 



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